1984 Road Trip Around Volcano St. Helen's

Day1: Toutle River Lahar

Before the volcano erupted, the river road lead to Harry Truman's Lodge, and Spirit Lake at the foot of the mountain. Pam and I drove as far as we could, our journey was blocked by the debris flow from the volcanic lahar 4 years earlier. A lahar is a violent mudflow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocks and water. A mass of 3.3 billion tons of destruction flowed down from the volcano into the upper North Fork Toutle River watershed wreaking havoc ripping up trees, leaving boulders and ton's of mud in its wake. Currently The Toutle River deposits 2.8 million tons of sediment per year into the Cowlitz River.

Day 2: Windy Ridge Viewpoint

Pam and I started at the Forestry facility at Silver Lake and drove north to HWY 12. We proceeded East to Randall and turned right onto Forest Route 99. the Destination: Windy Ridge.

Approximately 15 miles from Windy Ridge we began to see evidence of the volcanic blowdown. Stripped tree trunks and soon the devastation was all around us.

Windy Ridge is about 4 1/2 Miles from the Caldera. You can also see Spirit Lake...

Some of the photos were taken by Pam, they speak for themself.

Volcano St Helen's Pages